Edinburgh, booze and Sooty and Sweep

by Simon Young on September 3, 2010 4:43 AM

by Nick Wealthall
Summer is over and I ended it with a bang. Well, a binge to be more accurate.

I spent 10 or so days in Edinburgh and re-discovered the student within me. Not sure how many reading this will have been to the Edinburgh Festival or to Edinburgh full stop, but if you haven't then do! I haven't been everywhere but of the towns/cities I've visited in the UK and Ireland it's by far my favourite - if we could move it a couple of hundred miles south I'd be there in a shot.

I was there for the latest leg of the UKIPT and then for some quality comedy festival time. The tournament went very well, especially considering it was a brand new event for Scotland - next year I think it'll be even bigger.

The festival was great except for deciding to torture my liver by drinking every night. I'm a complete lightweight and never really 'drank' when I was the age you're supposed to drink, so it was all a bit silly but a lot of fun.

The comedy was very mixed - there are a lot of comics around these days who clearly belong in rock bands (as in they just want to be famous) and don't actually have any material. But then there are also geniuses like Emo Phillips and the God that is Tim Vine. When Tim was told he'd won the best joke at the festival award he replied: "I'm so excited I'm going to Sooty's barbecue to have a Sweep stake." Genius, but only if you know the kids' TV show Sooty and Sweep.

Sooty and Sweep (www.bbc.co.uk)

I have 'a lot on' at the moment. Lots of big poker tournaments are coming to London this month and the WCOOP is happening online, so there's plenty of poker work. Also I'm working on some comedy projects and probably a couple of TV shows so it's all a bit full.

With all of that there isn't much time for poker at the moment and I've reached a plateau with Omaha so I'm taking a break until I have time to focus on it properly. I'll be playing a couple of live events in the next six weeks so I'll let you know how those go.

Think that's about it... hope summer isn't over for you and you can cling onto it for a few weeks to come!